


Nick & Takeo - #22 - Quirks

by zosimos (trismegistus)



Series: Tobira no Mukou e [10]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist (Anime 2003)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-05-30
Updated: 2010-05-30
Packaged: 2017-10-09 19:19:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/90667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trismegistus/pseuds/zosimos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt #22 of 50</p><p>Nick spends some time with Winry.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nick & Takeo - #22 - Quirks

Nick was tossing a ball for the dogs. He was a little off balance, and was using his off-hand but still managed to lob it a fair distance. The three puppies shot off after the ball, rolling and tumbling down hill to be the first to fetch it.

It was weird to have his arm off. He'd gotten so used to the weight that without it he felt like the wind could blow him off balance. It was a silly thought but it pervaded. He'd asked Winry for a slightly lighter model, after all he wasn't transmuting the arm into a weapon ("unlike FORMER customers," she had huffed as she laid the automail out on her workbench) and just needed it for the dexterity. He wasn't doing much transmutation at all, actually, he left that to Takeo.

Takeo was the alchemist, after all. Nick was just the product of an insane genetic line with a predilection for the alchemic arts. He couldn't help being good at it so he didn't bother studying anymore, the end result was that it made Takeo feel worthless. In an emergency was one thing, but Nick didn't need to be transmuting or using alchemy otherwise. And he was fine with that, this wasn't his world.

While Nick was getting his arm worked on Takeo was sitting for the first part of the State Alchemy exams. The general had seemed surprised that Nick wasn't interested in taking the exams at all, but he always seemed surprised when Nick didn't act a bit like his ancestry dictated he would. He was sponsoring Takeo, though, and for that Nick was grateful. The State Alchemists were still annexed to the military, but there hadn't been any call to arms for them since the structure of the military had changed. General Mustang was behind a lot of that, Nick knew. Alchemists were there to better the world now, not help destroy it.

A puppy came bounding up the hill, the pink ribbon tied around her neck telling Nick that this was one of the two girls. She dropped the ball at his feet panting, and flopped onto her back for a belly rub. Nick crouched and obliged her as she wiggled on the ground, and he laughed.

Winry had somehow acquired these three dogs since the last time he'd left. She hadn't had a dog since she had laid her old one to rest long before Nick and Takeo showed up in Amestris; but these three puppies, all from the same litter, had shown up on her doorstep trying to get out of the rain and had never left.

Nick scooped the ball again and threw it, just as the other two puppies were cresting the hill. They tumbled back down again, chasing the ball at full speed as it landed and rolled down the grassy slope.

Ellie had been staying here, with Nick but she'd left two days ago to visit her mother in Central. She was going to be gone a while, because her good photo lab was set up at her mother's home, and she had several cases of negatives to develop. It just left him and Winry in the large house, and it made Nick feel weird, to be alone here. It was just like it was when he was recovering from the automail surgery the first time.

A warm wind cut across the hill, sending the leaves in the trees fluttering and rippling through the long grasses. He could see for miles up on this hill; Resembool was set in the low hills near a larger mountain range, and it was absolutely beautiful country. So green and bright, untouched by the filth of the modern world. There were a lot of times when Nick missed his home. But then there were times like this, where Nick realized he would be happy to make this his new home.

He glanced over his shoulder, to realize that Winry was leaning in the doorway coming off of the kitchen of the home. She was watching him, a slightly sad expression on her face. When he caught her looking at him, she smiled, but it didn't extend to her eyes. "Your hair's getting long," she said.

Nick touched the back of his head self-consciously. It was true, the ends of his hair were beginning to scrape the back of his neck. He hadn't thought much about it, but it WAS getting long. "It needs to be trimmed," he agreed. He tried to keep it short to delay the comparisons to his great-grandfather that always ensued once his gave his name, but that didn't always work. Nick still had nightmares about the blistering, suffocating hug he had suffered when they visited Lior with General Mustang.

"How goes the work?" Nick asked as the dogs made for Winry, circling around her legs like hungry wolf cubs. "I hate being off-balance like this."

"I do have that spare arm I have crafted if you want to sit through me wiring the connections," Winry said.

Nick put his sole hand on his hip. "You didn't tell me about this before, because...?"

Winry wiped her hands on a rag. "I didn't think of it before," she said. She shooed the puppies out from under her feet and she disappeared back into the house. Nick followed her.

To his surprise, he didn't follow her into her workshop, but to a closet. She pulled out a large, old suitcase - similar to the ones he'd seen her pack when transporting automail to injured customers who were not able to come to her. He tried to help her move it but she waved him off as she hoisted the suitcase onto one of the many workbench surfaces that peppered the entire house.

Despite having been a user of automail for over a year now Nick didn't have a bleeding clue about automail itself. Winry could wax poetic on different metal alloys and its strengths and weaknesses in relation to the usage of the prosthetic, all Nick knew was that if it was sturdy, he could use it. Winry produced an automail arm that looked a bit older than Nick would have been comfortable with usually. "This has a stronger metal base than the lightweight one I'm constructing for you," she warned Nick. "But it's sturdy and will hold up." She looked down at the arm in her hand and smiled sadly again. "Your new arm is going to take longer than I anticipated,' she continued. "I'm running low on supplies for it and I want it to be my new masterpieces, so this will have to suffice for a few weeks."

"Ah," Nick said, eying the arm. He didn't mind, and he was grateful that Winry was so dedicated to her cause, but something about this arm she was holding made him hesitate.

"I have to tweak a few things in this one's connector socket," Winry said, laying the arm out and closing the suitcase, before kicking it under the desk. "But it should be perfect for you." She glanced over at Nick. "I know you're anxious to get out of here and get back to your friends. I should have this done by supper, and you can be on the next train out of here tomorrow afternoon."

"If I didn't know better, I'd say it sounds like you're trying to get rid of me," Nick said.

Winry didn't look up at him. "I am, but not because I don't like you. I've got to leave for Rush Valley in about a week, for supplies and I also have to do a round of repairs and maintenance for my customers who can't get to Resembool. So unless you're looking to take another scenic tour of Amestris..." She left out the part where he reminded her of his great-grandfather, but Nick knew that already, even if she'd never said the words out loud.

"Right then," Nick said. "Guess I'll start on dinner." Winry already had two screws sticking out of her mouth and was concentrating on the socket of the automail arm, so she didn't even notice him leave.


End file.
